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Writer's pictureJoseph Shulam

The Olive Tree and the Branches

The Olive Tree and the Branches. @ 2024 Joseph Shulam

Germany November 1984


This study is not about the Botanic aspects of Olive trees and their reproduction. We will discuss the Election of Israel and the place of the Nations in God's eternal plan. The apostle Paul used the Olive Tree as a parable for the relationship. The complex nature of the parable has been the cause for much evil perpetrated against Jews and also the Church. There have been Anti-Semites who used the very words of Paul, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in..." for the justification of their hate against Israel.

photograph of an olive tree grove
Olive grove

Theodor Herzl, in his book "Der Judenstaat," states this in the first paragraph of his book. He said:

"He who can perish will and must perish. The Jewish national personality can, will, and must not perish. It cannot because external enemies hold it together. Whole branches of Judaism can die, fall off, but the tree lives."  

Herzl had much to do with establishing the modern state of Israel. We will not debate today's problems. Our approach will be a systematic study of the problems of Israel and the nations before they existed.


An example of the Jewish use of the Olive tree as a symbol of the conversion of the Gentiles.

"It is written: "And, by the river on its bank,...will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail..."(Ezk.47:12). This is an Olive Tree whose leaves do not wither in the summer and winter. As it is written, "How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord"(Ps.128:1). You could say that these are the converts and servants who are God-fearers, for they are called olive branches". (Tanna Debi Eliahu,p.91)


To understand this statement more fully, we must note that the word ההשראה, which translates as "Blessed," could also mean "Olive Branch." In the Jewish context, the olive tree represented the inclusion of the Gentiles.


Imagine there are no Nations

Before the tower of Babel, there was only one language and

nation. The Bible speaks of humanity in the destruction of the flood nations. The Biblical nations have taken the names of the sons of Noah and their descendants.


Deut. 32:8"

"When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel."


The formation of Nations was because of the sin of Rebellion against God.


Nations worshiped Idols who were demonic.

Deut. 32:16-17.

"They made Him Jealous with strange gods; With abominations, they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, New gods who c a m e lately, Whom your fathers did not dread." (See:P5.106:29;I Cor.10:20-22.)


Israel imitated the nations in this Idol worship, and they made God jealous with strange gods. For this reason, God would make them jealous: "They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their Idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation."


This verse is contextually in Romans 10:19, 11:11, and 14. Including the Gentiles in the Olive Tree has meaning only in their task of provoking Israel to jealousy, as Moses prophesied and Paul expounded.


The Election of Israel was for UNIVERSAL GOOD.

It was not for Israel's sake alone that God elected Israel but for the sake of the Gentiles; otherwise, God would be a respecter of persons.


"And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. 12:3)


Acts 3:25 uses this passage:

"It is you (the Jews in Jerusalem) who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed."


The task to bless the whole world falls to Abraham's seed according to the flesh. Isaiah said:

"I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also h o l d y o u by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind..." (Isa.42:6-7).


The jealousy that many "Christians" have of Israel's election is based on false doctrines, which have filtered through the Roman Catholic Church into Protestantism. Namely the doctrine of the rejection of Israel and the election of the "church." This replacement doctrine takes away the job of the Gentiles in making Israel jealous. ISRAEL HAS MADE THEM JEALOUS.


Many think that "Election" means "being better." The Hebrew word for election אסאל means To be gentle, agreeable, or coaxing. One could say that Israel was God's valet. Israel was chosen to be a sacrifice for the nations so that they could again return to be people of God, just like they were before the tower of Babel. See passages like Amos 3:2, Deut. 7:6-8.


The Judaizing Problem in the Early Church

Notice that no Gentiles are complaining about the Jewish believers who are teaching to be circumcised. The right and the wrong of it is strictly from the point of view of Jewish Halacha.


We have indications in Paul's letters that the Gentile Christians wanted to be fully circumcised--or, should I say, Judaized? See Gal.3:1-3,5:11; Acts 20:20 ff.


We must understand that in the Judaism of Paul's day, some prominent Rabbis believed that proselytes need not be circumcised provided that they underwent the rite of Baptism (YEBAMOT 46a). Therefore, when Paul taught about Gentiles not being pressured into circumcision, Paul was upholding the law.


He did not teach that Jews ought to stop keeping the law when they accepted the Messiah. As proof, Paul went into the Temple and offered sacrifices--Acts 24:14-17.


This is the reason why Paul defended the rights of the Gentiles against Judaizing teachers. Gentiles ought not to become Jews, for by this

they annul the work of Yeshua of making us one in Him.


Be reassured of the ONE BODY of CHRIST and our respectable place in it.

I COR.7:18-20, vs. 18.:

" Is any man called already circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised...."


THE STORY OF THE OLIVE TREE.

An olive grower knows how to graft the cultured olive into the wild olive because it is much hardier. But, in Rom. 11:17-24., the wild olive branches are grafted to what is the cultured root. The cultured root, contrary to popular opinion, is not Israel; IT IS THE MESSIAH. See these passages:


Isa.11:1. "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit."

Acts 13:23, Isaiah 53:2:

"For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of the parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty."

Jer 23:5.

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branchs And He will reign as King..."


Israel and the Gentiles are Branches who live off the ROOT.

For this reason, there ought not be any boasting between the branches. We are all saved by Grace. This phrase includes it all if we understand it right.



God can graft Israel back again.

The process of being grafted in is a mutual work of God and Gentile Christians who must provoke Israel to Jealousy.


WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY TO PROVOKE ISRAEL TO JEALOUSY?




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